Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness: Frames of Reference for the 21st Century Creative
Wayne K. Li
Aug 2025 · Hachette UK
Ebook
208
Pages
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About this ebook
One of the biggest challenges facing designers across all fields is not simply in the design of the product or service itself, but rather how to arrive at a design solution that resonates with a target audience, that will have a higher than likely chance at market adoption, and that will avoid negatively impacting society or the environment. What are the skills that can be employed by a student or young professional creative early on that enable them to identify the issues at work and address them? By understanding design from human-centered perspectives - both from the customer's and the producer's point of view - innovative, resonant designs are possible.
Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness demystifies the "fuzzy" front end of the design process, where research methods mix with business trends and marketing. The accessible, authoritative text presents design as neither merely a "trade" skill nor an exercise in personal creative vision, but rather the application of multiple mindsets and practices, built around a process of alternating points of view (or "frames"). As well as covering theory and process, this visually engaging book also provides real-life business examples and applicable templates to help designers hone their empathy and contextual awareness in order to more directly and efficiently achieve successful design outcomes.
Chapters cover:
Laying a foundation: design as a whole-brain activity
Design behaviors: design as a whole-life activity
Empathy: cognitive and emotional empathy, and compassionate concern
Contextual awareness: cultivating your designer's sixth sense
Design Empathy and Contextual Awareness demystifies the "fuzzy" front end of the design process, where research methods mix with business trends and marketing. The accessible, authoritative text presents design as neither merely a "trade" skill nor an exercise in personal creative vision, but rather the application of multiple mindsets and practices, built around a process of alternating points of view (or "frames"). As well as covering theory and process, this visually engaging book also provides real-life business examples and applicable templates to help designers hone their empathy and contextual awareness in order to more directly and efficiently achieve successful design outcomes.
Chapters cover:
Laying a foundation: design as a whole-brain activity
Design behaviors: design as a whole-life activity
Empathy: cognitive and emotional empathy, and compassionate concern
Contextual awareness: cultivating your designer's sixth sense
About the author
Wayne K. Li is the Oliver Professor of Practice in Design and Engineering at the Schools of Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta. He also runs his own design consultancy, working with clients including the Home Depot, Toyota Mobility, Google, and Panasonic. Previously, he worked as a Senior Designer for Williams Sonoma, Interaction Design Researcher for Volkswagen/Audi, and Product Designer for Ford Motor Company and IDEO Product Development. He received a Master's of Science in Engineering (Product Design) from Stanford University and undergraduate degrees in Fine Arts and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
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